I’ve been pondering goinig back to school for a degree in social studies education. A friend of mine, who is a high school geography teacher, says he absolutlely loves the job, but hates the administrative beauracracy, and says parents can be even worse to deal with. So, more opinions please. What’s it really like being a tracher?
If the kids succeed, it is because of devoted parenting and visionary administrators.
If the kids do not succeed, it is because of poor teaching.
I teach in a private school, where I teach math and physics to high schoolers, usually in grades 11 and 12. I have very few complaints about administration or parents.
The administration at my school basically consists of the Head of School, the Dean of Academics, and the Dean of Upper School. (Plus other positions not relevant to my job, of course.) Administrative interference is limited. We have mandatory career development meetings once a week, lasting two hours. Occasionally other meetings get called to deal with various contingencies. Other administrative requirements are fairly minor. We have to submit written assessments of each student twice per quarter, fill out weekly tracking sheets for low-performing students, and submit copies of our exams and grading sheets in advance.
The parents at my school are all wonderful. I never seen any parent make a demand that I consider unreasonable. (Irritating, yes, at times.) Mostly they just want to keep track of how their children are doing.
The situation in public schools is obviously different for two main reasons. First, the decision-makers for public schools are politicians who care chiefly about making themselves look good, while the decision-makers at a private school are individuals who care chiefly about educating children. Hence at public schools, teachers have tons of professional development requirements that accomplish nothing, while at private schools the administration understands that such things would merely waste time.
Second, since private schools are not part of the government, there’s no higher authority that can be invoked to boss people around. No state testing requirements, no Supreme Court rulings, no school board.
Another private school teacher piping up. As said above, our only superiors are our principals, etc, and although I’ve rolled my eyes at a few requests, they’ve never been over the top.
Over the years, I have run into a few wacko parents here and there, but usually they’re extremely supportive and wanting their kids to do well.
Parents and administrators can be annoying, but I don’t think it’s all out of proportion to, say, clients and managers in other fields.
And it makes for amusing stories.
I teach at college, so parents are not the issue.
However, paperwork is a bitch. You always have to fill out some damned form, or take some inane workshop or seminar with a perky “team facilitator” with no teaching experience who will show you how to do something you have probably been doing for years.
I barely have time to do classwork and grade projects and I am getting a tap on the shoulder to make sure that other paper was filled out, and the forms were turned in, and the Admissions Department/Registrar/Student Services/Financial Aid/Placement Office/Department Head was informed, and don’t forget to turn in the evaluations and…it never ends.
It entirely depends. I’ve had good administrators, I’ve had bad ones. Ditto school boards. Ditto parents. But in 22 years, I’ve never had any of them make me bemoan my career choice. Oh, I’ve bitched, but then I just remember that come September (or the next), I’ll still be here and it’s likely they won’t.
I love how my school division can’t afford more educational assistants, start a grade five band program, or hire more teachers for ever increasing classes. Yet somehow our central office is undergoing massive renovations, and three new admin positions have been created this last year.
Parents think I’m a poor teacher if a kid gets a low grade. It’s never the kids fault. It’s mine. This begs the question, what incentive do I have to be honest when I’m the one who get’s shit on? (I do still try to be honest, but I handle it with kid gloves now. I also don’t teach anything like math or science, just music)
Still in fairness, I have lots of supportive admin who let me do my thing. It’s not all bad.
My wife is a teacher in a medium-sized public school district in a middle-income area.
The admistratation right at her school (principal, school staff, etc.) are generally very helpful. She gets along with them and if she needs a favor from them they are accomodating.
The school board itself is mostly a pain in the butt. They are constantly coming down with new requirements for the teachers, or changes in the requirements, which amounts to more paperwork or more testing or changes in the curriculum.
The elected school board officials are the worst of all. As was said earlier in this thread, they are primarily politicians, and as a result they have very little real idea of what goes on inside the classrooms.
Now as for the parents, they vary enormously. Some are totally uninvolved, and some are constantly wanting to know how their child is doing. A middle ground is best, according to my wife. The uninvolved parents usually have unmotivated kids, and the too-involved parents are annoying.
Ed